5.  The applicant, who was born in 1943, lives in Urus-Martan, Chechnya. She is the mother of Mr Apti Islamov, who was born in 1977 (in the documents submitted also stated as 1976) and Mr Said-Emi (also spelled as Said-Emin) Islamov, who was born in 1981.
6.  At the material time the brothers Mr Apti Islamov and Mr Said-Emi Islamov worked as policemen at the Zavodskoy district department of the interior (the ROVD) in Grozny.
7.  On 14 October 2000 the two brothers were driving from Grozny to Urus-Martan in “Volga” car with their colleagues Mr Sh. Gadayev and Mr A. Shovkhalov. Their vehicle was stopped by servicemen at checkpoint number 160 (in the documents submitted also referred to as checkpoint no. 160-44, checkpoint no. 104, checkpoint no. 152 and checkpoint no. 140) situated next to the Chernorechye village on the south-west outskirts of Grozny. At the material time the checkpoint was staffed by police officers from the Special Task Unit (the OMON) of the Ryazan region of Russia.
8.  The four men were arrested in the presence of a number of their colleagues from the Zavodskoy ROVD who were crossing the checkpoint at the same time. One of the servicemen introduced himself as “Alexei” and informed the colleagues of the detained men that their arrest had been ordered by a commander with call-name “Chelsea”.
9.  At about 6 p.m. two APCs and two UAZ vehicles with a group of armed servicemen arrived at the checkpoint. The servicemen in the APCs, who were wearing black masks, threatened to shoot the ROVD colleagues of the detained and forced them to leave while the four arrested men, including Mr Apti Islamov and Said-Emi Islamov, remained at the checkpoint. The four men have gone missing since.
10.  The Zavodskoy ROVD in Grozny was immediately informed about the arrest of its four employees at the checkpoint.
11. The Government submitted copies of the documents from the criminal case file no. 13004 opened into the abduction of Mr Apti Islamov and Mr Said-Emi Islamov, Mr Gadayev and Mr Shovkhalov. The relevant information may be summarised as follows.
12.  On 17 October 2000 the head of the Grozny town administration complained on behalf of the applicant to the Grozny prosecutor’s office about the abduction of her sons by State servicemen.
13.  On 24 October 2000 the Grozny prosecutor’s office took statements from seven on-duty officers who had manned the checkpoint no. 160 on the day of the abduction: Mr M.A., Mr A.P., Mr A.S., Mr A.Ma., Mr S.S., Mr A.Sh. and Mr M.K. All of the officers stated that on 14 October 2000 in the early afternoon they had been ordered by the commander to stop the black “Volga” car and arrest its passengers and wait for the arrival of the assault team. They had stopped the car with four men in it. The four men had identified themselves as police officers from the Zavodskoy ROVD and showed their service identity cards. The on-duty checkpoint servicemen had searched the car and asked the four men to wait. Afterwards, officers from the Main Intelligence Service (the GRU) and the Oktyabrskiy temporary district department of the interior (the VOVD) in two APCs and two UAZ vehicles had arrived at the checkpoint. They had put the four men in one of the APCs and driven away to an unknown destination.
14.  On 27 October 2000 the head of the Zavodskoy ROVD complained about the abduction of their four employees to the military prosecutor’s office of military unit no. 20102 and requested assistance in establishing the whereabouts of the missing men.
15.  On 22 December 2000 the Chechnya prosecutor’s office initiated a criminal investigation into the abduction under Article 127 of the Criminal Code (unlawful deprivation of liberty). The case file was given the number 13004.
16.  On 20 January 2001 the investigators questioned several officers from the Zavodskoy ROVD who witnessed the abduction of their four colleagues at the checkpoint. Their statements corroborated the applicant’s account of the events submitted to the Court.
17.  On an unspecified date in 2001 the Zavodskoy ROVD informed the investigators that the four men had been detained on 14 October 2000 for their failure to comply with the order to stop at the checkpoint and then taken to the Oktyabrskiy ROVD.
18.  On 22 May 2003 the applicant was granted victim status in the criminal case and questioned. Her statement was similar to the account submitted before the Court.
19.  On the same date, 22 May 2003, the investigator examined the crime scene. No evidence was collected.
20.  On various dates in May and June 2003 the investigators questioned a number of relatives of the four abducted men and their colleagues all whom gave statements corroborating the applicant’s account submitted to the Court.
21.  On 23 December 2003 the investigation was suspended and then resumed on 19 January 2004.
22.  On 23 November 2004 the investigators, in the resumed investigation, again questioned several relatives of the abducted men. No new information was obtained.
23.  On 23 December 2004 the investigation was suspended again. The applicant was informed thereof.
24.  On 16 February 2005 the investigation was resumed by the deputy Zavodskoy district prosecutor. He stated that the proceedings had been suspended prematurely and instructed the investigators to take a number of steps, including establishing more witnesses to the abduction from the officers who had manned the checkpoint.
25.  On 17 February 2005 the applicant complained to the Chechen President of her sons’ abduction by the GRU servicemen from the checkpoint. She provided a detailed description of the incident and stated that shortly after the abduction her sons had been allegedly seen detained in a pit on the premises of the military base in Khankala, Chechnya. She further stated that the investigation had been suspended prematurely and requested that it be resumed. On 26 February 2005 this complaint was forwarded to the Zavodskoy district prosecutor’s office for examination.
26.  On various dates in February 2005 the investigators questioned five police officers from the Ryazan region, Mr A.S., Mr A.Ma., Mr M.K. Mr M.A. and Mr S.S., who had manned the checkpoint on the date of the abduction. All of the witnesses stated that the four detained men had been placed in APCs and taken away by unidentified servicemen from the FSS (the Federal Security Service) and the GRU.
27.  On 16 March 2005 the investigation was suspended again. The applicant was informed thereof on 30 August 2005.
28.  On 25 September 2005, upon the applicant’s request to this end, the Zavodskoy district prosecutor examined the investigation file in criminal case no. 13004 and concluded that the decision to suspend the proceedings had been substantiated and lawful.
29.  On various dates between 2005 and 2006 the applicant along with relatives of Mr Gadayev and Mr Shovkhalov forwarded numerous requests to various prosecutors’ offices and other authorities asking for information on the progress in the investigation and requesting assistance in their search for the abducted men.
30.  On 23 July 2009 the deputy Zavodskoy district prosecutor criticized the progress of the investigation in criminal case no. 13004 and ordered that a number of steps be taken. In particular, he ordered that the investigators questioned a number of witnesses to the arrest, verified information concerning the alleged detention of the applicant’s sons in Khankala and identified the officer who had ordered to stop the abducted men’s vehicle at the checkpoint.
31.  On 31 July 2009 the investigation was resumed; then on 3 September 2009 the proceedings were again suspended and then resumed on 4 August 2011. It’s unclear whether the applicant was informed thereof.
32.  From the documents submitted it follows that the investigation is still pending.
33.  The Government did not dispute the circumstances of the abduction as presented by the applicant but denied any involvement of State agents into the incident. At the same time, in their observations of 7 February 2012 the Government stated, amongst other things, the following:
“58.  [...] the investigation obtained evidence demonstrating that ... Mr Said-Emin Islamov, Mr Apti Islamov... could have been detained by State representatives [...]” ...
“[75.] ... the investigaiton established that Mr Gadayev, Mr Shovkhalov, Mr Apti Islamov and Mr Said-Emin Islamov had been detained by persons who had introduced themselves as representatives of power structures. However, it is impossible to establish whether the detention was indeed carried out by representatives of law‑enforcement agencies, whether it was in violation of the relevant procedure or whether physical force was applied against the disappeared men ...”.